Jose Antonio Vargas covered the Washington Press Club Foundation dinner in the capital last night for The Washington Post, and the liberals were handing over the highest compliments to one honoree, long-standing leftist UPI reporter Helen Thomas, now a Hearst columnist and author of a book scolding the rest of the press corps for being Bush tools:

On behalf of the House of Representatives, we salute Helen Thomas," said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. "You could have gotten [this award] over and over again, Helen."

"One of the greatest reporters in the history of the republic," Kennedy called her.

This wouldn't be the natural match for Helen claiming President Bush was the worst president ever, would it? Vargas added:

She's been attending these dinners since the late '40s. She was president of the Women's National Press Club in 1959. "I've picked the greatest profession in the world," Thomas said. "There is nothing more indispensable to a democracy than a free press." Spoken like an old pro, still idealistic after all these years.